speaking of

English

Verb

speaking of

1. present participle and gerund of speak of

   Synonym: talking about

Adverb

speaking of

1. (colloquial, disjunct) Speaking of which; relatedly, used to introduce a related topic.
   • 2006, Mark Winegardner, The Godfather’s Revenge, G.P. Putnam’s Sons, →ISBN, page 76:

     “Speaking of by the way: nice car. I mean that.”

   • 2009, Wells Tower, “Executors of Important Energies” (short story), in Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned, Macmillan, →ISBN, page 83:

     “No more songs. This is a restaurant, for Christ’s sake, and speaking of, can somebody tell me where the hell is that veal?”

   • 2009, James Boice, NoVA, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 47:

     — […] Speaking of by the way we should go shopping on Saturday or Sunday because Penney’s is having a sale at Fair Oaks.

   • 2010, Julia DeVillers, Jennifer Roy, Take Two, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 8:

     “ […] And speaking of, can you please cover up that hideous shirt?”

Usage notes

• This phrase is commonly used to move on from the previous subject, and introduce a new related one.

Speaking of stamps, we might be running out. I'll go to the store tomorrow.

Related terms

• generally speaking (likewise often disjunctive)
• to speak of

Translations

relatedly

• Arabic: على فِكْرَةٍ (ʕala fikratin)

  South Levantine Arabic: على سيرة (ʕala sīre)

• Azerbaijani: sözü gəlmişkən, yeri gəlmişkən
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 話說 / 话说 (zh) (huà shuō)

• French: en parlant de
• German: apropos (de), übrigens (de), da wir gerade davon sprechen
• Greek: μιας και τό ’φερε η κουβέντα (mias kai tó ’fere i kouvénta), παρεμπιπτόντως (el) (parempiptóntos)
• Polish: à propos (pl), przy okazji (pl)
• Swedish: på tala om (set phrase), apropå (sv), på tal om
• Turkish: demişken

Interjection

speaking of

1. Synonym of speak of the devil.

   A: I wish Maria had come. B: Speaking of! Here she is!